Sex roles during conspecific territorial defence in the Zenaida dove, Zenaida aurita

Social monogamy in vertebrates often involves the joint defence of an all-purpose territory by pair members. Although both sexes presumably benefit from holding a territory, sex-related variation is often observed in territory defence at the interspecific level, particularly in birds. Most studies of territorial defence in monogamous birds, however, have been conducted on songbirds or on bird species living in temperate areas. In contrast, data on nonoscine tropical bird species remain scarce. We experimentally studied territorial defence in 20 pairs of Zenaida doves, a tropical and territorial monogamous bird species that maintains year-round pair bonds. Overall, males responded to intrusi…